


We Wait for Morning to Wake You

by Elyant



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drabble, Gen, Immortality, Pre-Canon, Temporary Character Death, The Old Guard AU, This thing has no context whatsoever
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 411
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25573945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elyant/pseuds/Elyant
Summary: Arthur is almost used to dying.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	We Wait for Morning to Wake You

**Author's Note:**

> This idea came to me and refused to leave me alone until I wrote it down. And since I don't dislike how it turned out, why not share it with you...
> 
> Usual disclaimers: this is barely edited; English isn't my first language; neither the characters nor the idea behind the universe belong to me, I'm just mixing sand from two sandboxes to make my castle.
> 
> (Title from _The Funeral_ by Band of Horses)

Arthur is almost used to dying. It comes with the trade; after a kick, it's the easiest way to wake up from a dream. Or not easiest exactly. Simplest? Quickest may be more appropriate. His thoughts swirl like water slowly going down a drain around the adjectives for a moment before his mind gets back on track.

Dying, right.

Experimented many times in dreams but never topside. He might have come close to it once or twice but he never thought _this is it_ so definitely before. Now, lying on his back in a narrow, dark alley in Amsterdam, feeling the blood pours out of the two bullet holes in his chest and the one in his thigh, he has no doubt that he will not wake up. 

_Game over, darling_ , his traitorous mind whispers to him with a British accent before everything fades to black.

  


* * *

  


Unlike many dreamsharers, Eames still has the capacity to dream naturally. Being blessed - or cursed depending on the day - with immortality by whatever powers-that-be judged him worthy of it - and isn't that a puzzling thought, even after so many centuries - means that the damage the Somnacin inflicts to his brain cells heals within a few days of abstinence from dreamshare.

It's not unusual in itself for Eames to dream about Arthur. In fact, he has done so many times since his first meeting with the deliciously bespoke suit-clad pointman. The dreams generally tend to lean toward the erotic side, even though his one is entirely adrenaline, gunpowder, and blood. Again not totally unheard of. 

Except it's a _Dream_. The kind that makes him shot up in bed, with panting breaths and fists tangled in the sheet. The kind he hasn't had since finding Mal in the early days of the French Revolution. The kind that tell him another one has died only to wake again.

_Oh, darling._

  


* * *

  


Arthur wakes with a groan. Violent and unwilling deaths are unpleasant even when they happen in dreams. Except... Except this death was very much real. 

Arthur sits up from his sprawl on the ground, one hand going to his chest as he watches in astonished horror and fascination his body rejecting bullets, skin and muscles knitting themselves back together afterwards.

Arthur's phone chooses this moment to vibrate in his pocket. He fetches it mechanically, smearing blood on the screen with his thumb as he accepts the incoming call from a number he knows by heart.

"Welcome back, darling."

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading !
> 
> (I kinda revived my [tumblr](https://matter-of-semantics.tumblr.com) recently, you know, if you want to say hi)


End file.
